False Arrest
False Arrest is the tenth episode of the first season from the television sitcom on Family Matters, which was aired from ABC on November 28, 1989. It was directed by Peter Baldwin and written by Barry Gold. Plot An egotistical actor that the family (everyone except Carl who has valid reasons) loves named Buddy Goodrich (Ron Glass) wants to sue Carl for false arrest. The Winslow family find out Carl arrested Buddy and get upset. However, they eventually learn that Buddy actually provoked Carl and confront him for it. After ordering him out of their house, Buddy is found guilty when his assistant testifies against him in court and the smug Winslows spend the weekend slowly driving around the interstate. Synopsis The rest of the Winslows are watching The Buddy Goodrich Show and are big fans of the show's star Buddy Goodrich; however, Carl is the only one who isn't impressed by him for a reason: He thinks Buddy is a waste of time because of his bad way of parenting his adopted sons on the show. When Carl goes to get tickets to Buddy's one-man show, he notices his car parked in the handicapped spot at his place, he asks the manager to tell Buddy to move his car. The manager does is on break but points to Buddy's dressing room. However, Buddy gets into a fight with Carl, who tries to reason with him to move it or else he'll be given a ticket and the car towed away. Instead, Buddy refuses to listen and he assaults Carl three times despite his warnings to stop and Carl places him under arrest. The next day, Buddy is released from jail and scheduled for trial. He reveals on television that the "rogue" cop arrested him when he "didn't provoke" him (in actuality he did provoke Carl that lead to his arrest). The Winslows get mad at Carl and don't want to talk to him, even when Carl maintained he did the right thing. Fearing bad publicity, Buddy visits the Winslow home and offers the rest of the family free tickets to his show. While talking to Carl alone, Buddy tries to get out of paying for the fine by offering Carl apposition as technical manager and a $3,000 payment. Carl refuses to give up his integrity and tells Buddy that he can't accept it because it would mean never being able to face himself nor anyone else if he accepted the bribe. He also mentions that Goodrich broke the law by assaulting him and he needs to pay his fine for parking in the handicapped spot. Immediately after, Carl calls Buddy out on his bad parenting skills on his show and thinks it's wrong on all aspects. Carl mentions that when the children screw up and make their mistakes, they need to take responsibility for it, not the adults; however, Buddy gives himself away by revealing that he bribed his manager to lie for him and that he's got a good lawyer. Buddy is confident of winning the case with his lawyer claiming he was a victim police brutality which will end Carl's career as a cop and have his badge stripped from him. The family had secretly listened to Buddy's confession and are angry with him because it means Carl had been right to arrest him for breaking the law. Immediately, they come inside the kitchen extremely angered by Buddy's confession. The Winslows give him back the tickets and confront him for his behavior. Rachel admitted that the family were too blinded by fame, they didn't realize that Carl was in his rights to arrest Buddy for breaking the law by assaulting him and refusing to move his car from the handicapped spot. Harriette also points out that along with his egotistical and narcissistic behavior makes him a terrible influence to children who are watching his show. The Winslows order Buddy to leave their house at once and never return. After he leaves, the family apologizes to Carl for doing the right thing and arresting him. The next day, Buddy is found guilty for provoking Carl and refusing to abide to the law by not moving his car. His assistant and manager both testified against him in court. Carl mentions that the judge forced Buddy pay a big fine and in addition to the assault, he has to spend the weekend picking up trash off the local interstate. The episode ends with the smug Winslows planning to take a slow drive on the interstate to embarrass him more. Cast Main * Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow * Jo Marie Payton as Harriette Winslow * Rosetta LeNoire as Estelle Winslow * Darius McCrary as Eddie Winslow * Kellie Shanygne Williams as Laura Winslow * Jaimee Foxworth as Judy Winslow * Joseph and Julius Wright as Richie Crawford * Telma Hopkins as Rachel Crawford Guest * Ron Glass as Buddy Goodrich * Shawn Phelan as Mickey * Justin Gocke as Teddy * Neil Eliot as Stage Hand * Thom Adcox-Hernandez as Roger Trivia * The original cold open to this episode featured Harriette telling Rachel she's putting Carl on a new diet. Then Eddie, Laura and Judy come down and complain about what Harriette made for their school lunch, so they leave it on the counter. Carl comes down and sees the extra food and thinks it's part of his lunch. After the original airing of this episode, the producers replaced it with a new cold open to feature Eddie helping Steve Urkel lift weights to make it look as if Urkel was on from the beginning. The first season DVD set uses the original version. * "The Buddy Goodrich Show" is a spoof of the 1978-1986 sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" with the races of parent and children flip-flopped. * Even though Buddy's assistant didn't see Buddy assault Carl he could've heard it from the dressing room or was off screen when he saw it * It was unknown what happened to Buddy after he was sentenced to paying a big fine and spending the weekend cleaning trash off the interstate. However, it's implied that when everyone learned about his assault on Carl and parking in the handicapped spot, his acting career and reputation was tarnished. Quotes :Carl: Mama, you mean to say you'd rather watch Buddy Goodrich than listen to me? :Estelle: Well, you're here every night. He's only on once a week! ---- :Judy (looking at her lunch): This sandwich is made with chunky peanut butter! :Laura (looking at her lunch): Meat loaf? I can't eat that, I'm a vegetarian! :Harriette: Since when? :Laura: Since yesterday! When Barney McGuire laughed so hard that bologna came out of his nose. :Harriette: Laura! Ugh! :Eddie '(looking at his lunch): Mustard? Mom, there's﻿ mustard on my sandwich! I hate mustard! :'Harriette: Look, I'm not running a restaurant here, okay? Work it out for yourselves, I've got to check on the laundry! Category:Episodes Category:Season One episodes Category:Season One